Did you know that RPBO is a registered Canadian charity? Donations made to support our projects are tax-deductible, but more importantly, allow us to continue and expand our projects. We are hoping to raise sufficient funds to be able to hire banders-in-charge for our Nocturnal Owl monitoring and MAPS projects, as well as to offset some of the equipment and travel costs of the hummingbird project. There are a number of ways that you can contribute: directly from our website, through CanadaHelps.org, or by sending a donation to our mailing address. For those looking to leave a lasting legacy, we have an endowment fund set up with the Victoria Foundation. You can even remember us in your will!
Thanks go to the Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, the Public Conservation Assistance Fund, Victoria Natural History Society, Pedder Bay Marina, and Moralea Milne who have already provided financial contributions and/or services which have made the 2010 season possible.
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Migration Monitoring News
A Northern Pygmy Owl made an early morning visit to the migration monitoring nets.
Migration monitoring got underway on July 21 and 2010 promises to be a good season at Rocky Point. As it typical, August hasn't been expecially busy, but a good diversity of birds have been observed and captured, including a Northern Pygmy Owl on July 26.
One of the goals this season is to get a few volunteers trained sufficiently to apply for banding permits. If you are interested in attaining this level of expertise and would be willing to help on RPBO banding projects, please contact Ann Nightingale at motmot@shaw.ca.
Monitoring continues until October 18.
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Hummingbird Project of BC News
Rufous Hummingbirds are among the species monitored by the Hummingbird Project of BC.
The Hummingbird Project has had a very successful 2010. The season started with participation in the RPBO banding workshop and IMBD. Our banders in BC and Alberta caught Anna's, Rufous, Black-chinned and Calliope, and although the results are not all in yet, it has clearly been an interesting season. In this project, two major areas of interest are the migration habits of hummingbirds and determining migratory connectivity. There have been successes on both fronts this year. The BC team nabbed the second longevity record for Rufous (we have both now), caching a female that was at least 8 years 11 months old (she was first banded as an adult by Jim Wisnia in Brackendale, BC), who has visited the same feeder faithfully year after year (and been caught there many times). We also had a long distance recapture with one of Curtis Culp's Rufous (from Dunster, BC - it is near Jasper) being trapped by Kelly Bryan in Ft. Davis Texas (they shared a different bird last year as well). Other highlights of the season include Cam and Joy Finlay's trip to Princeton, where they trained a fledgling banding team and a marvelous workshop in Dunster in May. The education focus of the project has moved forward also, in personal efforts by the teams and on a wider scale through our partners such as the CRD and Goldstream Provincial Park, who included hummingbirds in their public outreach work.
As always, none of this would have been possible without the good will and energy of many. Our volunteers are tireless (or at least too tired to notice they are up so early) and our site hosts are incredibly patient and supportive - we could not do it without you!
More information on the different teams and how the season went (initial analysis of results), will be in our end of year newsletter. If you are interested in learning more or being involved next year please contact us at hummingbird@rpbo.org.
Northern Saw-whet Owl News
Northern Saw-whet Owl banding starts on September 15. Volunteers can sign up using the WhenToHelp website or by contacting Rick Schortinghuis at volunteer@rpbo.org. We have been applying for funding (so far, without success) to conduct stable isotope analysis to help determine the breeding/molting locations and diets of the birds which pass through the Rocky Point area. Conservation of this species requires understanding of critical breeding regions and the stable isotope analysis will contribute greatly to knowledge about these owls.
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MAPS News
Subtle differences like these two retained greater coverts provide the clues needed to accurately determine a bird's age.
Another successful MAPS season was conducted at two sites, Rocky Point (7th season) and Witty's Lagoon Regional Park (2nd season) in 2010. Although we have authorization for a third site at Royal Roads University, it was not active this year due to lack of qualified volunteer banders. We are anxious to reactivate this site and hope to raise enough funding by 2011 to hire a MAPS bander next year to be in charge of all three sites.
The biggest surprise of the season was the number of hummingbirds captured and banded at Witty's Lagoon. For three consecutive banding sessions, the hummingbirds were about half of the birds captured, with a grand total of 82 Rufous Hummingbirds banded at Witty's.
For the second consecutive year, Olive-sided Flycatchers were captured at both locations.The Canadian population of Olive-sided Flycatchers is believed to be only 18% of what it was just 40 years ago and they are now considered threatened in Canada. It is significant that there appears to be a strong breeding population in this area. Our records may help build a case for habitat conservation to protect this species.
More than 650 records were obtained during the 2010 season. Results and data collected during MAPS are sent to the Institute for Bird Populations (http://birdpop.org) for analysis. There are more than 500 MAPS stations monitoring breeding bird productivity and survivorship throughout North America.
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